NASPO Members Featured at the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council’s Annual Summit

Several NASPO members were featured in presentations, speaking engagements, or received awards during the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) 2016 Annual Summit in Washington DC, from May 24-26.

The sustainable purchasing programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (MA) and the District of Columbia (DC)  were given special recognition during the SPLC Awards ceremony, when DC received SPLC’s top honor, the “Leadership Award for Overall Sustainable Purchasing Program.”  Massachusetts was also recognized when it took home two awards including the SPLC “Leadership Award for a Special Sustainable Purchasing Initiative” and the “Sustainable Purchasing Business Case Leadership Award.”  Leadership recognition awards were also given to the states of Minnesota and California.

SPLC awards recognized a wide range of sustainable purchasing strategies and documented the resulting environmental, social, and/or economic benefits in a series of case studies that SPLC maintains on its webpage. Awardee’s actions embody the SPLC Principles for Leadership, and elements of SPLC sustainable purchasing guidance.

Also of note, Jim Butler, Deputy CPO for the State of California, was featured as a “Keynote” panelist during the morning kick-off “Keynote Conversation: The Chief Procurement Officer Perspective.”

The conference was attended by approximately 350 participants from about 150 states, cities, federal agencies, universities, manufacturers, and Fortune 500 companies.  The theme of the conference was “Sustainable Purchasing: Making the Business Case.” The conference featured a Buyer-supplier Matchmaking Event, two keynote speaking engagements, a Chief-Procurement-Officer (CPO) Roundtable, and nearly 60 learning sessions spread throughout the event.

NASPO is a founding member of the SPLC and numerous states enjoy SPLC membership. The non-profit organization’s mission is to support and recognize purchasing leadership that accelerates the transition to a prosperous and sustainable future. The Council aims to help its membership prioritize opportunities, identify existing leaderships standards and strategies, benchmark progress, and recognize those who advance the field.

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Jonathan Rifkin is the Sustainable Purchasing Program Manager for the Office of Contracting and Procurement, Procurement Division in the District of Columbia.  He also serves as NASPO’s liaison to the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council.